Bay Area briefs

PLEASANTON (AP) — A jockey has died after falling from his horse during a race at the Alameda County Fairgrounds.

Authorities say 33-year-old Jorge Herrera fell during the eighth race Thursday afternoon and may have been hit by his own or another horse. He suffered head injuries and died at a hospital.

Video of the race and witnesses indicate that Herrera was thrown after his horse, Morito, clipped another horse.

Herrera was from Jalisco, Mexico. He started in more than 1,000 races and won 55.

He's the first jockey to die at the Alameda County Fairgrounds since 1975.

3-year-old son of San Jose police officer shot

GILROY (AP) — Authorities say the 3-year-old son of a San Jose police officer has died in an apparently accidental shooting at home.

The San Jose Mercury News says the boy was found at his Gilroy home Thursday afternoon and died en route to a hospital.

Gilroy police say the shooting appears to be accidental but won't say whether the boy shot himself with a handgun or was shot by someone else.

Sgt. Chad Gallacinao says other family members were home at the time. He says the investigation will examine how the gun was stored at the home.

SF sheriff's wife may testify in misconduct case

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The wife of San Francisco sheriff Ross Mirkarimi may testify in person at his misconduct hearing.

An attorney for Eliana Lopez tells the San Francisco Chronicle that she'll probably fly back to San Francisco from her native Venezuela to appear before the city Ethics Commission. She's tentatively scheduled to testify on July 18.

The city attorney's office says remote testimony would be fine but Mirkarimi's lawyers disagree.

Mayor Ed Lee cited Mirkarimi with misconduct and suspended him without pay in March, shortly after the sheriff pleaded guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment for bruising his wife's arm during a New Year's Eve dispute.

Mirkarimi's wife has called the mayor's efforts a political witch hunt and has not cooperated with authorities.

SF car wash to pay $500,000 in back wages SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A car wash is agreeing to pay $500,000 in back wages and interest to its employees, settling a lawsuit with the City of San Francisco over a policy that allowed managers to make workers wait for hours without pay before their shifts began.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera says for four years, workers at Tower Car Wash would arrive for scheduled shifts and wait in a windowless room for hours before clocking in if managers thought business was slow. The city alleges the workers were denied minimum wage and overtime pay as a result.

Herrera says the company cooperated with the investigation, helping to calculate unpaid wages and making quick changes to its payment policies.